In the automotive realm, things were pretty stable there for about, oh, 100 years or so. By now it should be clear that this century will be different. Everything's in flux, from powertrain technology to the entire nature of driving. This is the right moment to take stock of all that change, as this special section sets out to do. Presenting the Car and Driver Tech 50, our list of the cars, people, and ideas that will fundamentally alter your relationship with the road.

The 918 is a different kind of hypercar, one that successfully reconciles the warring demands of ultimate efficiency and stupendous performance. Through some alchemy, this mega-hybrid puts out 887 combined horsepower and returns 71 mpg, even as it laps the Nordschleife in seven minutes flat. This is what you ride through the apocalypse. Read Full Review ››

Granddad's belt is back in style.

Until recently, a timing belt was perceived as a burdensome service item rendered obsolete by maintenance-free chain drives. Volkswagen's new EA211 series of inline-fours bucks the stigma, boasting a 150,000-mile timing belt. Belt drives are significantly lighter and potentially quieter, resulting in lower parasitic losses and better NVH characteristics. Ford immerses the belt in its new turbo three in oil for further noise reduction, and Honda's SOHC 3.5-liter V-6 also soldiers on with a belt instead of a chain.

New lows in downsizing

Just how small an engine can you cram into how large a vehicle? Insiders reveal that Ford has evaluated a 1.5-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder in an early prototype of its 2015 F-150. While we're not betting on seeing a three-banger under the hood of a King Ranch anytime soon, heightened pressure to raise fuel efficiency is driving automakers to engines with fewer than four cylinders.

Threes Gasoline and diesel threes ranging from 660 cc to 1.5 liters currently power the cars and small trucks of more than 30 brands worldwide. Three pots can deliver ample punch, but they can also be buzzy due to their tendency to rock longitudinally. Balance shafts, special engine mounts, and other tricks are being employed to smooth out the vibes.

Twos Two-cylinder gas and diesel engines, from 625 cc to nearly 1.0 liter, are another fuel-economy growth area, as they offer up to 20-percent less consumption than similarly sized triples and fours. Early adopters include the Fiat 500, Tata Nano, and VW Up mini cars, but compact twins will also serve as hybrid range extenders. BMW is using a 35-hp version of its Taiwan-built 647-cc scooter engine to power the generator in the 2014 i3 hybrid city car.

Ones Single-cylinder engines? They're likely to remain the developing world's favored power for three-wheelers and urban microhaulers—at least for the near term.

Why fuel economy matters

"The industry is focused on literally dozens of technologies to improve fuel economy: light weighting, improved aerodynamics, direct injection, downsized displacement, higher-pressure turbos, more-efficient transmissions, etc. The reason for efficiency technologies is to address social goals like energy security and greenhouse-gas reduction. With these advancements, the U.S. consumption of gasoline will continuously decline from its high in 2007 and never reach those levels again."

Robert Bienenfeld

Senior Manager of Environment and Energy Strategy for American Honda

Multipurpose materials

"New developments will show the possibility of creating materials which have structural, sensoric, and electrical characteristics at the same time. Let's take, for example, a bumper with parking sensors and the electrical wiring integrated with the structural material. And the really smart thing is that these materials reduce weight and improve efficiency."

Thomas Weber

Board Member of Daimler AG for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development

Just Don't Sit on It!This isn't the kind of printer that makes office holiday parties bearable. Layer by layer, an ultraviolet laser solidifies resin to create a throttle body at 3-Dimensional Services Group in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

"We started Urbee in 1996 with the goal to make the greenest car in the world—the car that uses the least energy. [Three-dimensional] printing came into it when we entered the Automotive X-Prize competition and we were trying to hurry. We made a cold call to [3-D printing company] Stratasys. They said, 'We think we can do it; it's really at the edge of what we can do.' We took the car to 3-D printing shows, and I was just blown away by what I saw. You can print magnesium. You can print aluminum. You can print steel. It's expensive of course, but so was digital photography.

"The first Urbee was 3-D printed. The second one we're designing for 3-D printing. That's called digital manufacturing. If we can predict where all the forces are, then we can put the material there and nowhere else. We can build some of the strongest, lightest structures on earth in a different way than carbon fiber. Three-D printing also has virtually zero waste, and since there's no need to tool up, we can change anything on the body on the fly.

"A lot of car companies have already bought these machines, and they're using them for rapid prototyping. One vision of the future has a building full of these 3-D printing machines, with each machine making one production part. It becomes a far better way to build things, to just put the material where you want it."

—Jim Kor, Urbee project leader

Simulators get serious, helping to make seriously fast cars even faster. seriously.

It comes as no surprise that the sports cars produced by McLaren, a company best known for its ­Form­ula 1 success, are brimming with technology. But one of the most important pieces is not in the car at all but McLaren's state-of-the-art driving simulator.

Created to develop McLaren's Grand Prix cars, it consists of an F1 tub mounted on hydraulic rams that tilt and roll the tub on three axes. The "driver" faces a 180-degree spherical screen about five feet tall and 16 feet wide. Five pairs of projectors beam images of the track and surrounding environment onto the screen to provide a three-dimensional view to a driver wearing 3-D glasses. An electric motor on the steering wheel provides effort and kickback based on the road-surface database, while the two pedals also provide realistic feedback.

A typical run incorporates some 1.2 million data points, defining both the vehicle and track parameters. A car's suspension performance, tire behavior, powertrain performance, and aerodynamic drag and lift are all accurately modeled. So is the vehicle's audio profile, thanks to an elaborate reproduction of the engine's intake, exhaust, and mechanical sounds, as well as transmission, wind, and tire noise.

In this simulator, a driver develops realistic impressions of steering feel, turn-in behavior, cornering balance, overall responsiveness, and body control. Ride comfort is also modeled, but harshness and general NVH are not synthesized here. And while the database of racetracks is extensive, only a few real-world roads have been mapped.

Three heavy-duty gaming PCs operate the system, one each for audio, video, and dynamic simulation. During the development of the stunningly competent 12C sports car, test drivers and engineers spent more than 1000 hours in this simulator. Paul Burnham, McLaren's vehicle dynamics manager, says that the investment here shaved a year from the car's development cycle. As the modeling and simulation become more extensive, the test drive might eventually serve only as confirmation of the simulator's work.

Hydrogen coming of age

"For almost 20 years, automakers have been touting the arrival of hydrogen, and the public, politicians, and regulators have either forgotten about it or given up. Not so at Toyota. In 2015, Toyota's fuel-cell sedan will hit the streets. Hydrogen fuel cells offer all the promise of battery-electric vehicles minus the range limitation and long refueling times that hinder widespread consumer acceptance of EVs."

Chris Hostetter

Toyota Group Vice President of Strategic Planning

DualBoost turbocharger

As boosting moves closer to becoming SOP, turbo suppliers are striving to improve the responses of their exhaust-driven devices. Honeywell's DualBoost turbocharger has two compressor wheels mounted back to back on a single turbine-driven shaft. Because the dual-wheel turbo mass is lighter than the alternatives—twin turbos or one turbo with a much larger compressor—its inertia is lower and its response quicker. A DualBoost turbo also saves weight and improves packaging. In 2011, Ford's 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel V-8 became the first engine to use the technology. A gas engine with a DualBoost turbo should arrive by 2016.

Formula 1's new rules mean road cars will get a splash of eau de speed.

For the next Formula 1 season, constructors face new rules. Well, there are new rules every year, but the 2014 book marks a major shift toward enhanced efficiency. Reading all the technical regulations can be as confusing as scrutinizing the Hapsburg family tree. We did it so you don't have to.

The big news: Turbochargers return after a 25-year hiatus, and the powertrain shrinks from a 2.4-liter V-8 with a seven-speed automated manual to a 1.6-liter V-6 with an eight-speed 'box. The cylinder-bank angle remains 90 degrees. Maximum engine rpm drops from 18,000 rpm to 15,000, but direct fuel injection is now required. Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, the M-B department that will supply V-6s to the Mercedes AMG, Force India, Williams, and McLaren F1 teams, says it is aiming for 750 horsepower, or about the same as the outgoing V-8.

Besides turbocharging, F1's other replacement for displacement is more electric assist. The current hybrid system, called KERS (for kinetic energy recovery system), will be supplanted by a more complex approach with a simplified name: ERS. It includes two electric machines, the first of which is known as MGU-K (motor generator unit-kinetic). It delivers torque to the wheels during acceleration and generates electricity during braking. MGU-K is rule-limited to 161 horsepower, which is 81 more than the old KERS motor, and can use four megajoules (1 megajoule = 1.1 kWh) of electricity per lap—10 times the energy consumption of KERS.

The second unit harvests excess turbocharger energy with an electric motor mounted coaxially between the compressor and turbine impellers. Called MGU-H (the H is for heat), it can draw or replace as much electrical energy from the battery as race strategists desire. Per the rule book, the first motor, MGU-K, can recover only two megajoules of energy per lap, or half of the system's allowed consumption. That leaves the turbo-mounted generator, limited to 125,000 rpm, to produce the other two megajoules needed for acceleration boost. When used as a motor, MGU-H spools up the turbocharger to eliminate lag.

Stated another way, ERS can provide 161 horsepower of electric boost for 33.3 seconds per lap, versus 6.7 seconds with the old 80-hp KERS.

One of the more interesting rule changes has nothing to do with the engines. For 2014, every car is limited to 220 pounds of gas, which is roughly a 30-percent improvement in efficiency according to Mercedes. So, cars dialing up the engine and fighting for position early on in a race run the risk of sucking the tanks dry too soon. Also, teams will have just five engines for the entire season, versus eight currently. Limiting engine supply and revs should improve reliability, while restricting fuel consumption will place greater emphasis on strategy. Tech transfer to road cars should ensue.

The laws of physics never change.

Sixteen years separate the GM EV1 from the Volkswagen XL1, and while the technologies have evolved, the formula for building a hyperefficient car hasn't. Consider the humble powertrains, exotic materials, and meticulously massaged aerodynamics, and thank Isaac Newton.

"Battery technology is still advancing at a snail's pace, and the automakers haven't even developed a consensus about what technology to pursue . . . the electric car has finally arrived."—Car and Driver, October 1996

What We Said

"Here's another example of VW chairman Ferdinand Piëch going to extremes—in this case, to show his many critics in the German Green Party where to stick it."—Car and Driver, July 2013

*Second-generation model†C/D estimate

The autonomous automobile

The robot chauffeur is inevitable—it's already lurking in the cars we drive today. but will autonomous systems ever evolve to reliably make the kind of complex human judgments that ensure real safety behind the wheel? Well, that part seems far less certain. Read Our In-depth Feature ››

The risk of progress

"In the future, the vehicle will cover more driver sins and we will be driving more efficiently, with much better mpg and better route management, but vehicle cost could be a problem. If we push too hard, we risk Cubanization of the fleet, where it is better to keep old cars than buy expensive new ones."

David Cole

Chairman Emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research

Self-driving sensors

Though GPS navigation systems can get you to the nearest Baskin-Robbins, they are not nearly precise enough to guide cars in traffic. These sensors make autonomous driving possible.

Camera:
High-definition cameras are a computer's eyes, allowing it to make sense of traffic lights, lane markings, and pavement edges. Side-by-side (a.k.a. stereo) cameras perceive depth the way two human eyes do, and they're getting cheaper by the day.

Inertial gyroscope:
When the GPS antenna is masked by buildings or tunnels, a gyro serves as a simple inertial navigation system. A gyro combined with wheel-speed-sensor information provides approximate vehicle location.

Infrared camera:
Because warmer objects emit more infrared radiation than colder ones, these cameras can identify and locate animals, wandering drunks, and other cars shrouded in dark or fog. Their night-vision function could eventually be incorporated into the main cameras.

Lidar:
The 64-beam Velodyne laser range-finder looks like a bucket and rotates at up to 900 rpm, painting the world with 1.3 million laser shots per second to accurately locate every object within 50 yards of the car. It provides the car with a detailed picture of its surroundings that's updated 15 times per second. More compact LIDAR (a portmanteau of "light" and "radar") sensors are under development by Audi.

Radar:
Radio waves can be used to identify the location and speed of other vehicles beyond the range of the LIDAR sensor. Radar can also detect pedestrians in low-visibility conditions when LIDAR is unreliable. Autonomous cars typically need a radar sensor at each end of the car. Small ones cost about $25 each, providing a cost-effective way to fly on instruments.

Hatz, 54, is the R&D boss at Porsche. Before that, he was the head of engine and transmission development for the entire VW Group. He also served at Audi, BMW, Fiat, and Opel. Consider his vision of the future reliable. Read Full Interview ››

Electric glossary

On AC, DC, and why electrolytes aren't just something you get in a bottle of Gatorade.

17ALTERNATING CURRENT
A flow of electrons that periodically reverses direction.

18AMPERAGE
An electric current's strength measured in amperes (amps).

19BATTERY
A device that produces electricity from a chemical reaction. Some batteries can convert electricity back into chemical energy and are thus rechargeable.

20CAPACITOR
Two conductors separated by an insulator and used to store electrical energy.

21CURRENT
A flow of electrons in a wire or between two points having a difference in potential (such as inside a battery).

22DIRECT CURRENT
A flow of electrons in one direction, from negative to positive.

23ELECTRIC MACHINE
An energy-conversion device that can operate as a motor or generator.

24ELECTRODE
A terminal for carrying electric current to or from a battery. The negative electrode that carries electrons out of a battery is called an anode. The positive electrode is a cathode.

25ELECTROLYTE
A liquid, gel, paste, or solid compound that conducts current inside a battery.

26INDUCTION MOTOR
A motor that uses electromagnetic induction (rather than a physical connection between the stator and rotor windings) to induce an electric current in the rotor, thereby eliminating the troublesome rotating conductors called commutators or slip rings.

27KILOWATT-HOUR (kWh)
An energy unit commonly used to quantify electrical consumption or battery capacity; equivalent to consuming 1000 watts of power for one hour.

28LEAD-ACID BATTERY
The oldest type of rechargeable battery, offering low cost and a good power-to-weight ratio. Here, lead-plate electrodes surrounded by a diluted sulfuric-acid electrolyte sit within a plastic case.

29LITHIUM-ION BATTERY
A battery with a lithium-based compound for an electrolyte, it has a high energy-to-weight ratio and low discharge when not in use, but also tougher heat challenges. Not all chemistries are safe enough for automotive use. Currently, cell shapes are either cylindrical or prismatic.

30NICKEL-METAL-HYDRIDE BATTERY
A battery that uses a nickel cathode, a metal anode, and a hydrogen-based electrolyte. It falls between lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in cost and energy density. Currently the most popular battery type for hybrid applications.

31PARALLEL HYBRID
A hybrid in which an electric motor powers the wheels in collaboration with an internal-combustion engine. Example: Toyota Prius.

32PERMANENT MAGNET
A material such as neodymium that produces a strong, persistent magnetic field. Often used to replace copper-wire windings in the rotor.

33REGENERATIVE BRAKING
Operating an electric motor as a generator to slow a vehicle while converting its motion, or kinetic energy, into electricity for recharging the battery.

34ROTOR
The moving part of an electric machine.

35SERIES HYBRID
Electric current from an engine-driven generator powers an electric motor driving the wheels. There is no mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels. Example: Fisker Karma. The Chevrolet Volt has both parallel- and series-hybrid modes.

36STATOR
The static portion of an electric machine. Usually fitted with copper windings that produce a magnetic field.

37SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR
An AC motor in which the rotor turns at a speed proportional to the supply-current frequency.

38THREE-PHASE MOTOR
By using three AC currents that are evenly spaced but out of phase with one another, power production is more constant and motor vibration is reduced.

39VOLTAGE
An electromotive force. Also, the difference in electrical potential between two points.

40WATT
A unit of power; 746 watts are equivalent to one horsepower.

The future of gas engines

"The combustion engine and the electric motor are not mutually exclusive but rather complement each other and play to the strengths of their special advantages. We assume that combustion engines will remain the leading driveline technology in the medium term, but increasingly integrated in hybrid or plug-in hybrid systems, depending on the vehicle concept and its intended use."

Just as conventional hybrid powertrains eventually migrated from futurepods to real cars, so are plug-in hybrid systems finding their way into commuters. We compare two family sedans at the technology vanguard. Read Full Comparison Test ››

When 12 Volts aren't enough

Twelve-volt electrical systems have reliably provided the juice for more than 50 years, but they may be tapped out. Modern vehicle features, from heated seats to adaptive chassis controls, draw enormous amounts of power. Add hybrid-electric capability, and the standard 12-volt setup is soon overburdened. A second 48-volt power loop allows engineers to use thinner, lighter wires to serve those subsystems that draw more than 500 watts. Audi, BMW, and Ford, for example, already use such dual-voltage electrical systems. A second battery or a DC-to-DC converter is required to accommodate the high-voltage loop. Expect to see more premium models move to 48 volts in the near future.

Lead-acid batteries live

The drive to reduce hybrid-battery costs has invigorated R&D in lead-acid tech, given up for dead when higher performing but pricier nickel- and lithium-based chemistries emerged. The new lead-acid designs are intended for basic stop-start systems and low-voltage hybrids. Some feature thinner, denser plates stacked in novel ways to improve efficiency. Others add carbon to the negative plate, which boosts storage capacity during partial-state-of-charge operation. The most promising designs could increase energy density by a factor of three while retaining the high charge/discharge cycling rates needed for hybrid operation.

VBOX

Strapping one of our VBOX II data loggers to a car for a test-and-tune session is akin to using a bazooka when a butter knife will do. Racelogic's VBOX Sport is perfectly suited for the casual data geek. The new Sport logs GPS data 20 times a second for up to six hours on a single battery charge. It's waterproof, has an internal antenna, and it'll mount to handlebars or a windshield. At $429, it's the cheapest VBOX offering. Instead of a built-in display, the Sport uses Bluetooth to turn an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into a real-time speedo (Android is coming). Racelogic has promised a predictive lap-timing app, and the free software lets you analyze data with your PC like a pro. www.racelogicusa.com

Radar detectors

A radar detector is a lot like a radio. But rather than music and talk, it picks up the frequencies emitted by position- and speed-monitoring radar. In the past, radar-detector design concentrated on picking up radar from far away. But not everything that sounds like radar comes from police officers looking to meet their ticket quotas. From automatic door openers to vehicle-blind-spot monitoring systems, the world is filled with devices emitting microwaves at the same frequency as radar guns. To be useful, a detector can't just sound the alarm every time it "hears" the right frequency. Escort's Passport Max ($550) uses new technology to filter out noise so as to find police radar faster and more accurately. In our time with the Passport Max, we found that if it's going off, there's no question there's a Smokey lurking.

Cars that don't crash

"Autonomous-driving technology will one day allow us to engineer cars that don't crash, which will fundamentally change the way we design our vehicles. If cars don't crash, we can rethink the materials we use, we can reduce or even eliminate bulky safety structures, we can tremendously reduce weight, and we can improve fuel economy."

Mary Barra

Senior Vice President of Global Product Development for General Motors

New phone tricks

For its first four decades, the cellphone was shackled to cars via a curly cord plugged in to the lighter socket. Now the tables have turned, with the modern phone dictating many elements of automotive design and technology.

A) the phone as a cable box
The MirrorLink standard allows the car's console display to be the big-screen TV to your smartphone's cable box. Your small phone provides the processing power and apps for navigation, a music library, phone connections, and other functions, but the familiar interface is projected on a large and accessible dash screen. Alpine, JVC, Kenwood, and Sony already offer MirrorLink-enabled aftermarket head units. Based on the amount of certification activity among major industry suppliers, automakers are close behind.

B) open apps for the car
Ford's OpenXC programming interface gives coders access to vehicle data such as steering-wheel angle, fuel consumption, and accelerator position. If Ford incorporates OpenXC into production cars, it could lead to apps that log data on the track or coach you to higher fuel economy. Developers have already concocted a DIY backup camera using an inexpensive webcam and a phone for the display. And because the standard is open source, any automaker can tap it for its own cars.

C) your cord is obsolete
Induction charging makes a cellphone truly wireless. Late last year, the Toyota Avalon became the first car to offer induction phone charging from the factory (as part of a $1950 package). A pad ahead of the shifter juices phones compatible with the international Qi (pronounced "chee") wireless-charging protocol. In the future, magnetic resonance technology could allow charging multiple devices at a greater range from the charger than the Qi stand­ard of 1.6 inches.

Looking for a new car? Just Google it.

The search giant wants in on your next car purchase. Google "BMW 335i San Francisco" and you'll be shown which Bay Area dealers have one. As an inventory tool, Google.com/cars does nothing new, but Google's reach should eventually yield the largest listing of cars in one location. And if you request more information from a dealer, it is filtered through anonymous phone numbers and email addresses so salesmen can't pester you. Only in Northern California right now, expanding soon.

The convergence of gas and diesel engines

"The most powerful technology I see on the horizon is combining gasoline and diesel attributes with controlled auto ignition. At Hyundai/Kia, we call that gasoline direct injection with compression ignition. This is a step beyond what's been achieved by many researchers with homogeneous charge compression ignition. The benefit is diesel efficiency with gasoline convenience."